Need Advice For Stitching Machine

[TrooperChuck]

It's been a few years since I've posted here, but I still stop by to read the posts and learn new things. This forum has been a good resource for me.

Last year I took the plunge and opened my own saddle/leather shop. Boulder Creek Saddle Shop in Kettle Falls, WA. The shop has done well and I'm enjoying the challenges of being a small business owner. I do a lot of repairs for saddles and tack, but about 75% of our business is making holsters, knife sheaths, and belts. When we first opened I did all my stitching entirely by hand. Unfortunately, hand-stitching was so slow that I got further and further behind on my custom orders.

In an attempt to speed up production, but still keep the "old fashioned" atmosphere in our shop, I decided to buy a non-electric stitching machine. I bought a brand new Tippmann Boss and was looking forward to cutting my stitching time down by at least 50%.

Boy, was I disappointed!

This Tippmann Boss does indeed stitch a lot faster than I can do by hand... when it works properly. The problem is that it rarely works properly. Missed stitches, thread tension that constantly needs fiddling, and inconsistent stitches are a frequent problem. I've been on the phone to the Tippmann factory techs a number of times, have watched every YouTube video on the subject, and have searched for tips online... but nothing seems to solve the problems.

I've had this machine for over 5 months, and the dang thing is costing me MORE time rather than saving me time. I'm very close to just sending it back to the factory and asking for a refund.

Does anyone have an comments, suggestions, or advice? I really don't want to use an electric sewing machine, so if anyone knows of a hand operated machine that works better than the Boss, I'd sure like to hear about it.

Thanks.

[Uwe]

I've no personal experience with Tippmann Boss although others have reported very good results. The guy selling the cast iron Tippmann Boss posted some stitch sample pictures that look simply amazing for machine stitches. Perhaps your machine can be adjusted to cooperate at the same level, the Tippmann Boss folks should be motivated to help you figure this out.

As an alternative, consider a Pierson 6 or similar machine. That foot pedal drive is hard to beat for old-fashioned eye-candy and the machine is supposed to have impressive stitch ability and quality:

Edited February 17, 2016 by Uwe

[TrooperChuck]

Thanks, Uwe. That Pierson #6 would indeed be an awesome machine to own. Unfortunately, the little bit of research I've done tells me they are hard to come by.

For simplicity's sake, I've been looking at the Windham Cub. Not entirely convinced it's the right machine for me, but I'm considering my options.

[Colt W Knight]

Your experience with the Boss is not uncommon.

Once you ever sewn an entire saddle belt on an electric machine in about 60 seconds, you may not have the same feeling towards an electric machine.

[TinkerTailor]

Your experience with the Boss is not uncommon.

Once you ever sewn an entire saddle belt on an electric machine in about 60 seconds, you may not have the same feeling towards an electric machine.

Its funny, with hand stitching i make designs to limit the stitching, and with my machine, I am the opposite, I am designing things with useless topstitching for style only...Like french seams.

[Colt W Knight]

Once I got my machine, I felt freed up creatively because I wasn't dreading the hours of hand stitching.

[TrooperChuck]

Well, Colt W Knight, you were right!

I've been attending the Southwest Leather Worker Trade Show in Prescott, Arizona and took a 3-day class on Western Gun Rig Design and Construction taught by Chris "Slickbald" Andre. The class was awesome. We had two Cobra Class 4 sewing machines in the class so I took advantage of the opportunity and used those machines as often as I could.

Bottom line... I got hooked on those machines! In fact, I bought a brand new Cobra Class 4 from Cobra Steve this morning.

Good bye, Tippmann Boss. Hello, Cobra Class 4!

I am really looking forward to getting this baby set up in my shop!

By the way, if you ever get a chance to take a class from Chris Andre, don't pass it up. I've learned more about holsters from Chris in the past three days than I would have learned in a couple years by myself. He's a great teacher and I'm really glad I took this class.

[Dwight]

Trooper, . . . is the class 4 a walking foot machine, . . . ??

Thanks, may God bless,

Dwight

[dbusarow]

Trooper, . . . is the class 4 a walking foot machine, . . . ??

Triple feed. It's Cobra's 441 long arm

Dan

[rdf1967]

Man...I was the same way with my opinion to on handstitching. Orders got behind and I found myself turning people away because they would have a 2 month lead in time . I decided to invest. I did alot of reserch and was just about to pull the trigger on a Boss. It was then I had a cycling accident that tore up my right shoulder and also speeded up an already bad spine problem. It was truly impossible to hand stitch at that point and even pull down an arm crank. I decided to go ahead and go electric. I spent 1600 and got a Cowboy 3200 from Bob at Toledo Industrial. I was a bit worried about my repeat customers on holsters and what they would think. To my suprise every one of them so far are pleased with their product as much and even more now. I was so happy and able to get out an even faster and good looking product with that machine. I know the joy insaying hand stitched and the pleasure of saying 100% hand stiched but that joy does not compare to the smile I get from my customers when they get their product faster and I don't have to raise my low prices to slow down my orders. I am just saying that sometimes we have to go electric but we can still hand stitch when a customer desires it. I cannot even begin to tell you how pleased I am with myCowboy and how much my hands thank me for it

JMO

rdf1967